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Long Lost Mojo
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So I am 2 years out from my last ironman or and race in general, My fitness has seriously declined and motivation to train has long since gone.

But... I want and need to get it back, this year has been tougher then most with no option of races to sign up for.

has anyone else come back from the depths of the couch cushion to return to their former mop mediocrity?


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Yellowfin Endurance Coaching and Bike Fits
USAT Level 1, USAC Level 3
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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sort of. you just gotta find a reason to "want it." there's really no shortcut.
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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I think you have to find the fun in what you are doing before you worry about "training". That might be just going out and riding/running with friends or joining a tri club/running group for the social aspect.Once you start getting some fitness back and things become easier to do then generally the motivation for more structured training returns and you can worry about planning a program for target races.
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I have had a bunch of health setbacks and am coming back from years of inactivity and a 40lb weight gain and to get my Mojo back I am off on a 3,000mile,month long Epic Camp style bike tour starting on the 14th of this month.My swim fitness is already back to around a 60min Ironman pace and now it is time to get riding and then the running will follow after some weight comes off.
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For me it has to be fun without "the chore" of following numbers and the pressure of a soul sucking training program. :-)
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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Kind of. When I was in the service for 6 years there was only a little time for riding, even when the ship was docked in Norfolk. Then I moved to upstate NY and got married so that was a couple more years of little activity. Then I got a job 12 miles from home that I could bike commute to a couple days a week. It took me 2 years to get back into cycling shape (and that was when I was still in my 20s) and another year to get into racing shape, granted I was renovating a house and working 50 hrs a week so it could have gone better.

About 10 years later I did another reset when I went back to school to finish my degree, so that was another 2 years of minimal riding.
I am lucky because I just love riding and short of some truly traumatic injury I think I could come back from anything, given my druthers I'd rather ride than do most anything else.

Other anecdotes, one of my friends has taken to chasing KOMs on Strava to replace racing, he goes out once a week and targets one or two during a ride. On the other hand another friend has almost stopped riding completely.

I guess I am saying just ride (or swim or run or whatever) for a while and do enough to maintain some fitness, then look for a goal to up your motivation to actually train.
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [ThailandUltras] [ In reply to ]
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This is the key. It has to be fun and going out tomorrow morning has to feel like it is the world championships and the last workout of your life....because you may die before the next one anyway, so gotta have fun in this workout. If not, why even bother.

Of course you probably won't die after the next workout but since it was fun you will do the next one and the next one and the next one and suddenly by enjoying each workout of the process you got to your destination which is getting your mojo....racing if it happens would be a byproduct of enjoying this process not the reason for exercising.

I believe this is the fundamental difference between those who stay in the lifestyle and those who visit the virtual triathlon resort but then check out
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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surfNJmatt wrote:
So I am 2 years out from my last ironman or and race in general, My fitness has seriously declined and motivation to train has long since gone.

But... I want and need to get it back, this year has been tougher then most with no option of races to sign up for.

has anyone else come back from the depths of the couch cushion to return to their former mop mediocrity?


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This coming weekend will be 4 years since my last tri (IM).. in the interim I've switched my focus to basically gravel riding, with a couple of gravel races each year and some road riding sprinkled in occasionally.
Plan was to go back and do the same IM in Sep 2021 but COVID stopped this year's race and all the participants got shunted into 2021, so I don't really like my chances of getting in. On top of that, COVID also kiboshed the HI vacation we had booked for.. right now!, and we rescheduled that to Sep 2021, further reducing the likelihood I'll do the IM next year. So 2022 it is.
Which is all to say... it took a while of just having "fun" vs training to rekindle wanting to start training again for an IM.

On a related note - where in NJ are you? Southern, right? We close on a 2nd home in CMCH at the end of this month and I'm hoping to start exploring some of the gravel roads/trails in the forests around there; I've seen what look like trailheads on the roads in the area, and in pics/videos of the Tuckahoe Gravel Grinder course.
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [WelshinPhilly] [ In reply to ]
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 I've timed my Swimming, Biking, and Running efforts since I got a stopwatch for my 6th birthday. Since turning 60, I've had trouble dealing with age (and weight) related slowing, and COVID has been like a long injury which keeps coming back!. Yes, lost my Mojo. No long-term goals, no morivation. Before reading this thread, I had already looked realistically at the final 4 weeks of my bike and run builds of my last 70.3 (which went relatively well last September). I'm going to get consistent for three weeks and then enter that space. No power or pace considerations... just TSS. If I can reach 75% of that effort for four weeks, I have resolved that my Mojo will be back. Mojo will help me to set my next goal, and setting achievable short-term goals through frequent steady training is a good place to start for me.
Last edited by: Wild Horse: Sep 5, 20 11:35
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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You are asking so I’m thinking you want to. The hardest part is getting out the door and starting your ride, run, or jumping in the pool. Likely, once you get moving again you’ll wonder why you let it go.

Which is pretty much every early morning when the alarm goes off to wake up for a ride. “Why the f am I waking so early to do this?” is my first thought. After the ride when I am drinking coffee on the deck and feeling really good, I think “This is why.”
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
This is the key. It has to be fun and going out tomorrow morning has to feel like it is the world championships and the last workout of your life....because you may die before the next one anyway, so gotta have fun in this workout. If not, why even bother.
Of course you probably won't die after the next workout but since it was fun you will do the next one and the next one and the next one and suddenly by enjoying each workout of the process you got to your destination which is getting your mojo....racing if it happens would be a byproduct of enjoying this process not the reason for exercising.

I believe this is the fundamental difference between those who stay in the lifestyle and those who visit the virtual triathlon resort but then check out

I'd actually temper this to say it's 'mostly' fun. Sometimes even 'infrequently' fun, but those less-frequent fun days should be good enough to make up for the rest of the not-fun parts of tri training.

If I expected to have 'fun' on every one of my workouts, I think I'd lose over half my workouts! Not saying they suck per se, but I can name at least 10 other things in that moment I'd 'rather' be doing that particular day - but none of those 10 things will match the feeling of the hard-earned fitness and the pace you can throw down outdoors on that key day where you can let the fun roll!
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [ In reply to ]
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You gotta come up with a schedule you can stick to. Group fitness class, group ride, swim lessons, run club, solo ride, tempo run, HITT, speed work on the track, OWS, spin class, easy shake out run.... it doesn’t matter what it is. You have to come up with a schedule you can afford and stick to. You will meet friends, workout together and have fun. Once you get into it, it becomes like doing a laundry or grocery shopping. You will do it anyway and part of your lifestyle.
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Re: Long Lost Mojo [surfNJmatt] [ In reply to ]
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What got you in the sport in the first place?
Why did you decide to race IM in the past?

You will find motivation and drive as soon as your "need" to become fit and race again becomes a "want". Our motivation is primarily driven by our beliefs system, what our values are. And if you are still stuck to your couch and keep asking yourself how to come back to the sport, your "why" wasnt probably strong enough in the first place. Going from 0 training to IM training is a HUGE shift driving a lot of change for you and the people around you. Especially if you stop training / racing for 2 years. You gonna need to rebuild an identity around the sport, what it brings you, and shape the environment around you / your support system to make your life stress free to allow for training. It's one thing to go for a jog everyday but to train for IM is like an entrepreneurial journey. I find the biggest motivator to stay fit and race is to make it an intrisic value, as in you do it for yourself, it makes you happy, and voila. It just is.
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